


Some Kind of Perfect

by Talulabelle



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-17
Updated: 2012-10-17
Packaged: 2017-11-16 13:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/539774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talulabelle/pseuds/Talulabelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's far from perfect, but it's their kind of perfect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Kind of Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to [ meinterrupted](http://archiveofourown.org/users/meinterrupted/works) for being an awesome friend and an even awesomer beta.

Bruce Banner first meets Darcy Lewis when he’s returning to his lab after a meeting and sees a complete stranger sitting at his desk. Considering there are no alarms going off, he assumes that she’s meant to be here. Either that, or she’s an incredibly detailed hallucination and he should really consider switching to decaf.

“JARVIS, who is that?”

“A Miss Darcy Lewis, Doctor Banner. I assure you that she has full clearance.”

“And what is she doing in my lab?”

“She, and I quote, _needed to get away from Jane and Thor acting out the scene of a trashy romance novel all over the lab_.”

Hearing JARVIS say such a thing in his prim and proper British accent is actually quite amusing. But it still doesn’t solve the mystery of why this Darcy is in his lab. Or why he’s so damn interested in the first place. He nods a silent thank you to the AI before opening the door.

“Are you my new lab assistant?”

He must startle her because she swivels the chair around so fast she nearly falls out of it.

And then he’s the one nearly hitting the floor, because there is an incredibly attractive, incredibly _young_ woman sitting in his favorite chair and he feels like he’s violating about half a dozen different laws just by looking at her. By his best guess she can’t be beyond her mid-twenties.

“Huh?” She stares back, then takes the earbuds out. Bruce can hear the strains of music still pouring out of them and it’s a wonder that her generation hasn’t gone deaf yet. “Oh. Yeah. Maybe? I’m not exactly sure. My job description was obnoxiously vague. Sometimes I’m pretty sure I’m only here because I know too much. But the benefits are pretty awesome, and I have a _security clearance_.”

She beams at that last bit, and Bruce has to remind himself that she was probably still in diapers when he was defending his thesis.

“I hope it’s cool that I’m here. Jane and Thor were too busy being all _Jane and Thor_ and there’s only so much of that I can handle before my brain starts to melt a little.”

“Jane? As in Doctor Jane Foster?”

“Yup. Girlfriend of Thor, studier of magical rainbow bridges and all that.”

The name ‘Darcy Lewis’ in relation to Jane Foster finally makes more sense and things click for Bruce.

“You’re Doctor Foster’s assistant?”

He doesn’t mean for the question to sound so incredulous, but Darcy just shrugs it off so it has to be something she gets a lot. And in all fairness, it’s a valid reaction. The girl- no, young woman- looks like the least likely candidate to be a lab assistant to a well known astrophysicist. With her purple Chucks, jeans and faded shirt she looks more like she belongs in an Apple commercial and not in a multi-million dollar lab.

“What can I say? I needed the credits, Jane had the internship. It worked out pretty well actually. I transcribed her notes and made sure she remembered to eat, and in return I got six credits.”

“So I take it you’re a physics major?”

This makes her laugh.

It’s the most wonderful sound Bruce has heard in a long, long time.

“No way, dude. Me and hard science do not get along. Like, at all. My advisor had me take chemistry my freshman year and then there was an _incident_ in one of the labs, and did you know that you can get banned from an entire building? Anyway. I started out with women’s studies, but that was just way too much estrogen even for me. So I switched to political science, but now I’m considering international relations because it’s the closest thing to inter _dimensional_ relations. I’m sure that’s just a few years off now, what with the aliens and all.”

Bruce now knows more about this girl ( _woman_ , he tries to tell himself) after five minutes of conversation than he knew about most of his dates when he had been in college. And he hasn’t even thought to properly introduce himself yet. 

Darcy beats him to it by holding out her hand.

“Darcy Lewis. And before you ask, yes, that Darcy. My mom was on a big Austen kick when I was born.”

He stares at her outstretched hand for just a beat over what most people would consider polite before he takes it. Her hand is soft and fragile in his, and he finds himself liking that. A lot.

“Bruce Banner. Not named after anyone in particular.”

Darcy just smiles at him and sets her hand back on her lap when he lets go.

“I take it from your lack of reaction to my name that you already know-”

“That you turn into a giant green thing? Yup. We were filled in on the whole team on the way here. How cool is it that Captain America actually exists?”

“And you’re not bothered by this fact? Or scared?”

This just causes her to shrug.

“I actually think it’s kinda nifty. And besides, I’m a girl. My half of the human species tends to turn into crazy rage beasts once a month.”

He’s in the process of trying to tell her that it’s not exactly a fair comparison, but she continues on before he gets the chance.

“That, and I’m sorta used to weird shit by now. I survived the giant fire breathing robot thing Thor’s crazy brother sent to attack us. And I tased Thor, so it’s cool.”

“You _tased_ Thor?”

“Yup. Totally knocked him flat after Jane hit him with the van.”

“You ran Thor over?”

“Hit him. Twice, actually. And, okay, so I was driving the first time. But technically it’s Jane’s fault because she grabbed the wheel. The second time was all her though.”

“Do you make it a habit to carry around a taser?”

“Never leave home without it.”

At this she pats the bag sitting on the next almost affectionately. Bruce may fall in love with her just a little.

“They actually let you bring that in here?”

“Yes. Eventually.” She rolls her eyes and heaves out an overly dramatic sigh. “Coulson gave me a whole lecture on it, but I think he still feels bad for stealing my iPod so he let me keep it. Also, this is New York City. I think my chances of needing a taser increased exponentially the second I stepped off the plane.”

He has to agree with her on that, and opens his mouth to say as much but then he finally gets a good look over her shoulder at his computer screen.

“Is that Facebook?”

Darcy looks a little sheepish and spins around to sign out and close the browser window.

“Sorry dude. It’s blocked on the computers in Jane’s lab. I think they don’t fully trust us yet. And I hope you don’t mind that I installed a few adblockers and spam filters on here. I also installed Chrome, because seriously? Internet Explorer? So 1996.”

He has to wonder how old she was in 1996.

He doesn’t ask.

She stands up from his chair- and he pretends that he’s not aware of the fact that he’s analyzing just how perfectly she would fit in his arms- and offers him another smile.

“Well, I suppose I should go check on Jane and remind her that she’s mortal and needs food. Speaking of- do you know any places nearby that offer a decent variety of Poptarts?”

He’s just reaching the conclusion that her head would fit in that perfect spot between his neck and his shoulder when he blinks a few times and has to rewind the past few seconds to remember her question.

“Ask JARVIS. He should be able to point you in the right direction.”

“Oh. Sweet. Thanks!”

She leaves, and he prides himself on the fact that he only watches for two seconds longer than necessary before he sighs and sits down. The chair is still warm, and there’s a lingering scent that he can’t quite identify except to say that it is so very _Darcy_. A sense of self preservation and a total desire to avoid complications would see him opening a window to air out the lab and switching chairs to one that hasn’t just held an incredibly attractive and incredibly young woman.

He doesn’t.

~~~~

Later that night he asks JARVIS to pull up Darcy’s file so he can see just how old she is.

Turns out that he wasn’t that far off in his guess- she’s 23. There’s a 17 year age difference, which officially makes Bruce a dirty old man for even beginning to think the thoughts he was. So he attempts to forget all of those thoughts and dives head first into his work.

Too bad it’s not that easy.

~~~~

For someone with such a vague job description, Darcy Lewis is everywhere.

This makes avoiding her rather difficult, which is also further complicated by the fact that the team quickly takes a liking to her. This really isn’t a surprise to him; there’s something infectiously likable about Darcy. She’s smart, quirky, and can even hold her ground with the likes of Tony Stark. What surprises Bruce the most is that The Other Guy seems to like her too, because whenever she’s around He stays quiet.

Tony notices this first, which is no surprise given how much time they spend together. What is surprising is that Tony says nothing about it. Not to him, or anyone else. As far as they know, Bruce has simply found some sort of new level of inner peace. Honestly, in the end he’s pretty sure that they care more about the fact that the Other Guy stays quiet than what actually makes him stay quiet.

If Darcy notices anything, it’s simply that he’s with Tony almost all the time. She calls it a _science bromance_ , which he actually (and embarrassingly) has to look up the meaning of online to understand what she means. Though it makes him feel entirely too far out of touch to have to resort to Google to get one of Darcy’s quips, even he has to admit that it’s quite fitting.

For the next few weeks he doesn’t see much of Darcy. Word in the tower is that Doctor Foster is getting closer to a breakthrough in her research which he assumes is taking up all of her spare time. There’s a few random glimpses of her at lunch or while in passing in the halls.

She always smiles at him.

He likes to think that the smiles, that smile in particular where her face lights up and her eyes become a deeper shade of blue, are just for him.

~~~~

Bruce gets to test this theory one night at a party. 

He’s not sure of the reason behind the party- somebody’s birthday maybe?- and it’s rather tame as far as Tony’s parties go. But the whole team is there, enjoying the time to relax and spend just a few hours forgetting that it’s only been two months since they came together to save the world.

Darcy is there too.

For the sake of science, he spends the majority of the party watching her. Watching the way she flits about the room, not staying with anyone for too long. She talks, and smiles, and after observing no less than five smiles he feels safe in his conclusion that the smiles she gives in passing and in the corridors are, in fact, just for him. These smiles, the ones for Steve and Tony and the rest, are different. It’s like the smile isn’t completely reaching her eyes.

The night drags on and he loses sight of her for a while, his attention drawn to conversations with Tony about the latest project, or with Jane about the progress of her work. When he finally spots her again she’s off to the side of the room, a half-empty glass of something in her hand. His feet carry him over to her before his brain can process what he’s doing and he stands next to her, in mostly comfortable silence.

“I thought you’d be over with the cool kids too.”

He blinks, then follows her gaze across the room. There’s a group of about a dozen or so people- mostly the other Avengers or members of SHIELD with field clearances- sharing stories about this or that. Try as they might to include everyone, there are moments when that just isn’t possible. 

Bruce knows exactly how Darcy feels.

“What are you talking about? We’re totally cool.”

This causes Darcy to switch her gaze to him, which in turn causes her to smile (his smile) and let out a soft laugh. He knows his hair is probably its usual haphazard mess, but he’s fairly certain that he at least put on matching socks this morning.

“So cool. They only wish they could be this cool.”

And that gets Bruce to laugh, something he hasn’t done in far too long. Much longer than he cares to admit.

“You can join them, if you want. I promise I won’t be offended.”

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m observing.”

“Observing?”

“Casually. You know me, the casual observer. Observing casually.”

They settle back into that odd sense of comfortable silence then. And as it turns out, casually observing people isn’t such a horrible way to spend an evening.

~~~~

Bruce continues to see Darcy in fits and spurts, and it’s then that he realizes he’s falling in love with her. In fits and spurts.

He’s not sure what frightens him more; the fact that he’s falling in love with her, or the fact that, for the first time since the gamma ray accident that he doesn’t want to stop himself. 

~~~~

The Hulk first meets Darcy Lewis on what starts out as a rather uneventful Tuesday morning but quickly descends into chaos because New York City is under attack.

Again.

A group of would-be terrorists (read: idiots) get in in their heads that six months post-alien invasion is a reasonable amount of time to wait before planning another attack. But New York has been through this before, and New York is less than amused. That, and the Avengers are there now, a fact the terrorists (idiots) either completely forget or just don’t include in their plans in the first place.

Either way, the attack doesn’t last long. By the time the first two bombs have gone off the Avengers swoop in to do what they do best.

Bruce never remembers much from when he’s the Other Guy. He has to rely on security tapes and the accounts of the others, but this time he does have a fleeting memory of a very specific detail; Darcy was among the injured.

He only half-watches the security tapes and flips through the reports because it’s more than enough to get the gist of things. Which basically boils down to: Darcy gets hurt, Hulk smashes. There’s a particularly gripping image of the Hulk cradling an unconscious and bleeding Darcy in his arms.

And, for the first time he can recall, he’s actually jealous of the Other Guy.

~~~~

Later- after debriefing and showering and a change of clothes- Bruce sits next to the bed of the unconscious woman he’s quickly falling in love with and feels his heart ache for her having to be in that bed in the first place. Statistically, he knows that her chances of something like this happening shot up about ten-fold the moment she took the job. But that still doesn’t change how awful he feels that she got caught up in things so quickly.

But she’s alive.

She looks like a giant bruise, but she’s alive. He flips through her file, and seriously- with so much Stark tech at their disposal, why does SHIELD insist on keeping paper files?- and takes note of the injuries, wincing with each one. Minor concussion, three cracked ribs, minor internal damage. It’s nothing that a few weeks rest won’t fix, but she’s still going to be hurting for quite some time. And just as that thought passes through his head, Darcy whimpers in her sleep and stirs slightly. His eyes instantly shift up to the IV pole, squinting slightly as he reads the labels. They have her on the good stuff, but as he leaves he stops to speak with the doctors about increasing her dose.

Visiting Darcy becomes a part of his routine over the next few days. She’s sleeping whenever he comes by, but he keeps up on the progress of her recovery from the notes in her chart and on the eighth day she’s awake when he comes in. She’s mostly sitting up in the bed, a mound of pillows behind her back to aid her in this, and there’s a half-eaten tray of food on the table next to her.

“Hey.”

He knows that the light in her eyes is almost all thanks to the drugs they still have her on, but it’s still great to see her smile again. Even if her voice lacks much of that Darcy-ness he’s grown to enjoy. 

“Hey, yourself. Not that hungry?”

“You’d think that for being like, a super secret government agency with all these connections and shit that SHIELD would at least have decent hospital food. I’d give my right eye for some pizza right now.”

“Going for the Fury look?”

“Okay, not my eye. Some other part of my body that’s equally as worthy for pizza. But not my boobs, cause those are awesome.”

Bruce isn’t sure how much of that is Darcy or how much of that is the drugs so he figures the safest course of action is to say nothing unless she says something first. She stays quiet, taking a few moments to idly poke her fork at what he can only guess is meant to be some sort of fruit cocktail.

“How are you feeling?”

“Sore. Annoyed. Tired. But mostly annoyed. Because, seriously? Those fucktards couldn’t have waited until after I finished my coffee to blow up the place? I had a _Pumpkin Spice Latte_. That shit is crazy limited edition. And addictive as hell. I think Starbucks laces it with crack.”

The statement is so utterly Darcy, but Bruce can tell there’s much more she wants to say, but that she’s either not ready or not sure of how to get it all out. It’s a feeling he’s far too familiar with, and in that moment he resolves to help her out as much as he can.

The Other Guy agrees.

~~~~

When he comes back to visit the next day he brings pizza.

The smile he gets sticks with him for the rest of the week.

~~~~

Darcy winds up spending a total of three weeks in medical before they’re willing to discharge her, and another two go by until he sees her again.

She’s in the kitchen/lounge/whatever they feel like using the room for at any given moment, sitting on one of the ridiculously comfortable couches with a cup of still steaming coffee in her hands. It’s not an unusual way to find Darcy, except for the fact that it’s the middle of the night. 

“Can’t sleep?”

He wants to kick himself for asking a question he obviously already knows the answer to. If the fact that she’s drinking coffee at three in the morning isn’t evidence enough, the dark circles under her eyes give everything away.

She shrugs, but it’s not the casual, effortless shrug she normally offers in moments like this. It’s stiff, and cautious, and he makes a mental note to see what sort of painkillers they sent her home with.

“I asked JARVIS what the others normally do when they can’t sleep, but it all involved too much physical activity or too much alcohol. When he mentioned the booze I asked if he thought I was trying to be Doctor House, which then reminded me that I haven’t watched it in forever. So I had JARVIS pull up the latest episodes, which really aren’t that great, by the way. And since it’s so late that it’s almost early I decided to have some coffee.”

The words fly out in a manic way and he wants nothing more than to sweep her up into his arms and hold her and tell her that everything will be alright.

Instead, he settles for sitting down in the chair across from her.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He wants to kick himself again, because that question crosses far too many lines too soon. And he knows that she’s likely sick of talking about the attack. She’ll have already gone through the mandatory debriefing, and if she wasn’t yet she’d soon be sent to the psychologist for at least one session. It was SHIELD standard operating procedure, and it kills him that she now has to follow it.

“What are you reading?”

She avoids his question, and not very well, by nodding towards the journal that’s currently tucked under his arm. He holds out his latest copy of the _Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy_ for her to see.

“Would you read to me?” A wince there, but he’s pretty sure it has nothing to do with any lingering pain. Bruce is all too familiar with the feeling of how different something can sound out loud than in your head. But she continues on anyways, as though nothing happened. “Pick something with a long and complicated title. Those usually do the trick to knock me right out.”

Bruce takes a moment to flip through the journal, settling on _Multi-objective stochastic dynamic economic emission dispatch enhancement by fuzzy adaptive modified theta particle swarm optimization_. 

Darcy’s asleep before he’s done with the first page.

He gives in to the guilty pleasure of just watching her for a few moments. She looks even younger in her sleep, if that’s possible, but seems older than her years with how her brows furrow slightly as though she’s not entirely comfortable with the idea of being asleep. There’s no hesitation on his part at all as he sets the journal down and rises to walk over to the couch. She only stirs slightly as he picks her up, mumbling something in her sleep as she burrows her face into his chest. It takes everything he has in that moment to remind himself that he’s simply doing this to get her somewhere more comfortable, and not because he’s been wondering how she’d feel in his arms.

The trip to her apartment is quick, and, thankfully, free of any observers. While most wouldn’t say anything, knowing his luck he would run into Tony and Tony would never let him hear the end of it. But he’s already at her door and home free, so he counts his blessings. JARVIS lets him in and he quickly, but gently, gets her settled into her bed. He even tucks her in, pausing to brush a few strands of hair out of her face. The urge to kiss her forehead is overwhelming, but he forces himself to leave before he can get himself into (even more) trouble.

~~~

Bruce sees even less of Darcy after that, but the current buzz around Stark Tower is that Doctor Foster is just days away from reopening the Bifrost, so he knows how busy Darcy must be. He catches a few fleeting glances of her at lunch, but it’s never long enough to strike up a conversation, let alone say hi.

But she does smile at him.

~~~

Thor returns just days before Christmas, and it’s a fitting addition to the party that Tony (Pepper) has planned. And it’s quite the party, complete with a tree and presents and more food and alcohol than employees of SHIELD and Stark Industries combined. Everyone is dressed to the nines tonight, and Bruce is rather proud of himself for managing to find a tux for the evening.

Okay, so Pepper (Tony) helped with that. But still, it’s a huge improvement over wrinkled khakis and a shirt that looks like he’s slept in it more often that not. Even his hair is cooperating tonight, and he must look better than usual because Natasha (and Clint, and Steve) compliments him. And he’s incredibly grateful for this fact because when he spots Darcy he’s practically speechless. She’s wearing an emerald green dress, and even from across the room he can spot that it has to be velvet and his fingers itch to stroke it. The color choice isn’t easily lost on him, and as much as he tries to tell himself that it’s just an appropriate Christmas color, he can’t help but wonder if it’s intentional. Her hair is up and pinned to her head in an intricate series of twists and curls, and her lips (he’s not staring, honestly) are a gorgeous shade of red.

Needless to say, it’s a huge change from the usual jeans and t-shirt he’s used to seeing her in.

The only throwback to that Darcy is the pair of antlers she’s topped the whole thing off with. He grins at seeing them, that grin only faltering slightly when he spots her coming towards him.

“You clean up nice there, Doc.”

“You too.” Ugh. No, Bruce. “Uh. I mean, you look great.” Open mouth, insert foot.

But Darcy humors him and gives him a broad smile, and if he’s not mistaken there’s even a slight blush there.

“I heard a rumor that Santa’s going to show up later.”

“I think we’re all a little too old for that.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Darcy nudges him a bit with her shoulder. “You’re never too old for the magic of Christmas.” A pause. “Or presents. Especially from Tony.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. This is Tony that we’re talking about.”

“Good point.” Her laugh is infectious and he joins her with his own.

They settle into comfortable silence for a while, their arms lightly brushing up against each other’s but neither seeming to notice or do anything about it. He takes advantage of the situation to study her out of the corner of his eye for a few long moments. She’s absolutely gorgeous, and who is he kidding? A girl like Darcy would never go for a guy like him. And while he’s in self-deprecation mode, he completely misses the internal battle that Darcy’s been waging because he nearly falls over when she perches herself up on her toes to press a soft kiss to his cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Bruce.”

Speechless.

He’s entirely speechless as she walks away and he could kick himself for not saying anything in return.

~~~

When they first kiss, a real kiss, it’s Darcy kissing him.

It’s New Year’s Eve, and later they’ll both try to blame the kiss on the spirit of the evening, but neither will admit that they both wanted (longed for) that kiss. She tastes of chocolate and champagne and the kiss is so perfect but not nearly long enough.

~~~

Their next kiss won’t come for another three months.

It’s a very long three months. Three months of lingering glances and fingers brushing and shared meals and late night conversations. But they’re both too dumb (or scared or in love) for their own good to do anything else.

By month one, Tony’s taken him aside for a long talk that he resolutely ignores. By month two, he’s fully aware of the fact that there’s now a pool on when one of them (and who) will make the first move. And by month three he’s finally ready to do something about it and put an end to all the gossip and goading.

He tracks her down to a bar not too far from Stark Tower and easily spots her among a group of college students. His initial reaction is to leave; she’s obviously with people she’s more suited to, and why should he try to change that? This is the worst idea, ever, and he should turn around now before...

“Hey Doc!”

Darcy’s voice easily cuts through the din of the bar. He winces, but turns around to spot her grinning at him and waving him over.

“Who invited the old man?” says random drunken frat guy.

He spots the frown on Darcy’s face as she jumps to defend him. “Hey! That’s Doctor Old Man to you. And Bruce is cool. I’d totally ask him out if he weren’t so out of my league.”

Well now. It’s a drunken confession, but a confession all the same and it takes about thirty seconds for the look of realization to cross Darcy’s face.

“Maybe I should get you home.” He says this as he wraps an arm around her. When she doesn’t voice any protests he leads them out of the bar and back in the direction of Stark Tower. She doesn’t utter a word on the walk back, or the ride up in the elevator, or on the walk to her door. She also doesn’t say anything when he follows her into her apartment and settles down on her couch while she goes off to her bedroom.

He doesn’t mean to, but he falls asleep there, not waking up until he hears the soft padding of feet across the hardwood floors as she walks over to the kitchen area. Bruce sits up, watching as she makes her way over to the coffee maker, then halts her movement as she spots him.

“Did you crash on my couch?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Cool. Thanks, I guess.” She seems half awake as she punches the buttons on the machine. There’s a long stretch of silence as she stares at the brewing coffee, then “Did I really say that I wanted to ask you out?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Because I did. Do. I mean. If you wanted to.”

“I’d like that.”

“Really?” There’s so much hope and joy in her voice that it makes his heart ache.

“Yes. Breakfast?”

“Sure. But you should put on some clean clothes first. And I should change out of my pajamas.”

It’s then that he finally notices the design and a sardonic grin tugs at his mouth. “Hulk pajamas? Really?”

Darcy shrugs it off and offers her own grin. “They’re comfy. And the only ones they had in my size.” Coffee forgotten, she comes around the island and saunters over to him. “Why, you jealous that cartoon-you gets to be so close to me?”

“Maybe a little. Real-me would like to get a lot closer.” He leans in, their lips practically touching, when Darcy grins again and steps back.

“Promises, promises.” She turns around, her hips swaying slightly as she walks towards her bedroom. “Breakfast first.”

The grin stays on his face all the way back to his apartment.

~~~

Their first date - the first proper date, technically, complete with dinner and wine and the like - is a complete disaster.

Literally.

Bruce manages to keep from Hulking out just long enough to make sure Darcy is somewhere safe, and then it’s off to stop the latest threat to the city.

Later, much later, after the debrief and medical and a shower, he slides next to a sleeping Darcy. Or a formerly sleeping Darcy, because a moment later she’s rolling over to curl up against him.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” He brushes the hair out of her face as he watches her, the light filtering in through the curtains just enough to highlight her eyes.

“That my boyfriend is a superhero? Yes. I mean, it’s not perfect. And it sucks that people are always going to try to bogart you away from me and ruin our dates. But, yes. I’m okay with it.”

The kiss signals the end of the conversation.

That night Bruce sleeps the best he has in years.

~~~

Darcy was right. It’s not perfect. There are more ruined dates than not, a handful of near misses and more than a few failed kidnapping attempts. But somehow they manage to make it all work, and it’s their kind of perfect.

~~~

Bruce Banner first meets Baby Banner on the screen of an ultrasound when he or she is no more than a couple inches long. But there’s the fluttering of the heartbeat that he can just make out, which matches the fluttering of his own heart.

A baby.

It’s far from perfect. They’ve only been married three months, and while there had been some talk of a family neither expected it to happen so soon. But the truth is staring at them on that screen, and while he should feel terrified of all the possible complications and what this means for both of them, he can’t help but fall in love with his unborn child.

Their child.

He squeezes Darcy’s hand before pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

It’s not perfect, but it’s their kind of perfect.


End file.
